Activist Tony Porter to speak about ending violence against women

Talk will be part of the Campus Conversations series

Tony Porter, an educator and activist dedicated to ending violence against women, will speak at Ohio University at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, in the Baker University Center Ballroom.

He also will conduct a workshop from noon to 2 p.m. prior to his keynote speech that evening. Those interested in attending the workshop are encouraged to register by emailing Bill Arnold at wa321112@ohio.edu.

Porter's talk will be part of the Campus Conversations series, which was created in fall 2013 to provide a safe place for people to ask questions, raise concerns and educate themselves and others about how to promote healthy sexuality and increase safety in the community.

Porter co-founded "A Call to Men," a nonprofit national association that works to create a world where all men and boys are loving and respectful and all women and girls are valued and safe.

Porter’s message of engagement and self-examination has connected powerfully with numerous domestic and sexual violence programs for such high-proﬁle groups as the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, and colleges and universities around the country, including the U.S Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and the U.S Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. Porter also is an international lecturer for the U.S. State Department, having done extensive work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Porter wrote the book "Well Meaning Men … Breaking Out of the 'Man Box' — Ending Violence Against Women." He was also the visionary behind "NFL Dads Dedicated to Daughters: Inspiring Personal Accounts on Fatherhood from the Men of the NFL."

As an international lecturer for the U.S. State Department, Porter has worked extensively in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Kingdom and Brazil.

Graduate Assistant Bill Arnold, who works with the Survivor Advocacy Program’s Bystander Intervention and Prevention Education, as well as the Campus Involvement Center Office of Health of Promotion, says men need to challenge themselves on the kind of masculinity they embody and model healthier, more positive styles of masculinity.

“It is my hope that Tony will help our community keep thinking about the correlations between traditional masculinity and gender-based violence and what all of us, but male-identified people in particular, can do to further promote health and increase safety,” Arnold said.

The free talk is sponsored by The Office of Multicultural Programs, Black Student Cultural Programming Board and the Women’s Center sponsor. It is free and open to the public.

The Office of Multicultural Programs focuses all its programs and activities on intercultural teaching and learning. It provides a place where members of the university community representing a variety of backgrounds can participate in programs and activities. All programming is designed to increase human understanding through the study and expression of culture.